MPAS: The Haunted Mask
by Shinigamilover2
Summary: Loosely based on 'Goosebumps: The Haunted Mask'. In desperate need of a costume for Halloween tonight, Sherman discovers an abandoned costume shop and takes a mask from the shelves. He has fun with it, but after the third time he puts it on, it doesn't come off. Now he has until midnight to find a way to take it off. Birthday gift for TexasBornmind76. Rated T, R&R please?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: It's the most frightening time of the year again... Halloween. And in honor of the holiday and it's mystical traditions, I have decided to write not only a Halloween story, but a birthday present for my good friend TexasBornMind76, so... happy birthday!**

 **The 'Goosebumps' movie was released and it brought back so much nostalgia for me since I grew up reading the books back when I was in grade school. My favorite one of all was 'The Haunted Mask' (the other being 'Calling All Creeps' of course). And so, this story is a loose adaptation of that 'Goosebumps' story. So, enjoy!**

Halloween was upon all the children of New York city. All the children were in costumes running around the streets of their neighborhoods going door to door and shouting 'Trick or Treat' asking for candy. Even though it was only 3:00, just when school was getting out every kid was in a costume.

The only kid in all of New York without a costume was Sherman Peabody, who was 7 ½ years old and the only adopted son of the genius dog Mr. Peabody. He walked down the stairs of his school looking at the other kids in jealousy. It didn't feel right trick or treating without a costume. He sighed as he saw a boy wearing a homemade wizard cloak made out of a purple silk robe with sewn on glow in the dark fabric stars on it, as well as a purple wizard's hat with glow in the dark star stickers on it.

"Wish I had a costume like that" Sherman said to himself sadly.

"You know you still can" a voice said, Sherman looked behind him to see his two best friends, Penny Peterson and Hayden McClaine.

"Oh hey guys" Sherman said as he now started walking with them.

"You can still put something together at the last minute you know" said Penny.

"I don't wanna be a robot like I was last year. That costume felt so uncomfortable and not to mention I got my arms stuck in the arms. By the time I got them out they were scratched up and itchy" Sherman explained.

"You can borrow one of my old costumes" Hayden offered.

"No thanks, but thank you for your consideration" Sherman said.

"Well, maybe there's still a place where you can get a good costume" Penny pointed out.

"You think so?" asked Sherman looking to his blonde friend who he had a major crush on.

"I'm pretty sure there is one. They don't close until 6:00 so why don't we go on a little costume hunt, huh?" Penny offered.

"Sure, sounds like fun" Sherman said. Hayden and Penny then walked with him down the streets of New York looking for a good costume to wear for Halloween this year.

 **-Fifteen Halloween Stores Later-**

"I cannot freaking believe this!" Sherman shouted in frustration kicking a dented metal Dr. Pepper can off the sidewalk and into an alleyway where a cat was sleeping on a crate and got startled, making a shriek and running off. The redheaded boy was still upset and angry because every single store they visited was either closed for the day, or out of whatever was the most popular or scariest costume.

"Don't be like that, Sherman. There are still twelve more places we haven't checked" said Hayden trying to give some reassurance to his friend.

"That's easy for you to say. You're going as an Evil Groot this year and Penny's going as Red Riding Hood, and I don't even have one thing to wear this year" Sherman said with his arms crossed making a pouting-like look.

"First of all, I'm going as a Dryad, not an 'Evil Groot'. Dryads are trees possessed by demons, there's a difference" Hayden pointed out.

"Oh right, sorry" Sherman apologized for making his mistake.

"Hey wait, look" Penny said getting the other two boys' attention and pointed to a store with boarded up windows and a gated up door, and on the top was a sign that said 'Halloween Quick-Mart' on the very top that had fading paint and scratches on it too.

"I dunno Penny, looks kinda creepy. Abandoned places are never any good news, don't you watch scary movies?" Hayden said having his doubts about where Penny was suggesting they go.

"Hayden, not all abandoned places are hide-outs for serial killers and ghosts. Besides, maybe there's a few things in there" Sherman said walking over to the front of the store and began pulling on the iron bars in front of the door.

"Locked, dang it" Sherman said with a look of disappointment.

"Don't worry, there's a back entrance on the side of the wall down that alley right there" Penny said pointing to the alleyway.

"How do you know that?" asked Hayden.

"My dad takes this route normally to take me to school" Penny said before running down the alley, Hayden followed along with her and then the last to follow was Sherman.

"Oh look, a back door. You were right, and it's open too" Sherman said pointing to the dented door with the knob taken out as well. Hayden reached his hand through the hole where the knob would be and pulled on it, making the door fully open and then he looked to Penny.

"Ladies first" he said simply and let Penny walk into the store first and then Sherman went in second, leaving the brunette boy to go in last.

The inside of the store looked like what a candle shop would look like, but on the shelves were masks on Styrofoam heads, and racks containing costumes were nailed to the walls. Plastic decorations hung from the ceiling too.

"Wow, this is a nice little place" Sherman said. The store lights turned on and both Penny and Sherman looked behind them to see Hayden with his index finger and thumb on the light switch.

"What? I couldn't see anything. I'm just surprised this place still has power" Hayden said now looking around the store.

"Since it's out of business I guess it can't hurt to find something I like and take it" Sherman said now looking through the costumes on the racks.

"May as well look around too" Hayden said going to one of the tables and looked at a fake old man's head encased in a jar, he smiled because it looked like something out of a scary movie.

"Find anything you like, Sherman?" asked Penny.

"Not yet, but it's all some pretty good stuff here" the redhead replied now done looking through the first rack of costumes.

Little did they know, a peephole was in one of the walls, disguising it was the portrait of Shakespeare as a skeleton, one of the eyes was what was disguising the peephole. Somebody was watching them silently in the shadows behind the wall.

"Woah, look at these" Sherman said running up to the shelves that contained masks of many different shapes and sizes.

"Those look pretty scary. Maybe you can pull off a costume with just a mask" Penny suggested. Sherman smiled as he was looking through each and every mask, but stopped and saw one he really really liked. It was a goblin mask. The skin was green and wrinkly, it had sharp yellow teeth in it's mouth that looked like they were made of plastic, the ears were pointy like an elf's ears, and the look on the mask made a menacing evil look.

"Wow" Sherman whispered taking the mask off the display head and showed it to his friends.

"Now that's scary" Penny said smiling at the mask.

"I don't know about you, but I think you just found yourself a costume" Hayden said. Sherman smiled as he now looked into the empty eyes of the mask.

"Sure do. This Halloween is gonna rock" Sherman said before putting the mask in his backpack.

"Wait wait! Take it back out and put it on" Hayden said.

"Yeah, we wanna see how it looks on ya" said Penny. Sherman rolled his eyes with a grin and took the mask out of his bag.

"You really wanna see?" asked Sherman.

"Heck yeah, come on we wanna get a glimpse of what we're gonna see you as tonight" Hayden answered before Sherman walked over to the full-length mirror in the corner near the barred up entrance to the store and put it on.

"So what do you guys think?" asked Sherman.

"That looks so cool!" Penny said.

"It feels so real, like I'm touching actual skin" Hayden said poking the cheek of the mask.

"Really?" Sherman asked as he began touching the cheek of the mask and let his fingers run down it's surface, to his surprise, the mask did feel like real skin. It kinda felt like a second face to him.

"That's creepy, but awesome" Sherman said before taking the mask off and placing it back in the bag.

"We'd better get home. My mom wants to take pictures of me in my costume before I go trick or treating with you guys" Hayden said right after looking at his phone clock.

"Yeah, I probably should head home too. Your dad's probably gonna wanna see that awesome mask you got" said Penny.

"I hope he does, I'm so not gonna be a duck this Halloween" Sherman said in relief walking out the store with his friends.

"Your dad wants you to be a duck, seriously?" asked Hayden.

"He's been wanting to dress me up as a duck ever since I was a baby. But I always had other ideas" Sherman said making his friends laugh as they talked and walked together.

The one who was hiding behind the wall came out from behind it and revealed their true appearance as an old man in his 60's with white hair on the sides of his head while the top of his head remained bald, and had a white beard and mustache too. He wore a black tuxuedo and a black cape with a red velvet inside too.

"Oh no. He took it with him! I knew I should have put the lock back on that door!" the old man scolded himself before looking at the shelves of masks behind him.

"I must find that mask, or else that poor boy will be in deep trouble" the old man said in a worried voice before putting the hood that was sewn to the cape over his head and walked out into the open daylight in search of Sherman and his new mask.

"I just hope I can save him before he puts on that mask two more times" the old man thought to himself before crossing the street and ventured his way through Central Park.

 **A/N: Chapter 1 is done! How was that for a beginning? Hope it was pretty good. For those of you reading this who are fellow 'Goosebumps' fans whether you liked the books, the TV show, or the new movie, then you should be in for a real treat reading this.**

 **What will become of Sherman now that he has his new mask? And why is that old man so desperately trying to get it back? Find out in the next update! Please review, thanks!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Welcome to another update of 'MPAS: The Haunted Mask'. In the last chapter, Sherman was disappointed about not having a costume to trick or treat in for tonight finds an abandoned costume shop and finds a goblin mask, not knowing the shopkeeper was watching him and his friends look through the shelves and costumes and now he needs to find Sherman because he doesn't know the unknown and terrifying dangers of the mask itself. This is where we left off, enjoy!**

Sherman had departed from his friends and then went inside the 'Peabody Industries' building and the 22 year old receptionist at the front desk, Pfeifer spoke up the minute she saw him.

"Sherman! Hi there!" she called out. Pfeifer and Sherman were pretty good friends and they hung out whenever Mr. Peabody asked her to watch over him when he was away for meetings and conferences out of town, state, or country.

"Hi Pfeifer, nice costume" Sherman said pointing out her Witch costume.

"Thanks, I sewed it together myself back home" she said standing up from the front desk and twirled around to let Sherman get a good look at her costume.

"That's cool. I just found myself a costume at the last minute" Sherman said pulling out the mask and held it up against his face, showing her what it was.

"Ooh, scary" Pfeifer said chucking at the end.

"I know, I'm gonna get so much candy when people see me wearing this terrifying looking thing" Sherman said after placing the mask back in his bag.

"Well in that case..." Pfeifer said before reaching under the desk and pulling out a big plastic orange bowl filled with candy.

"Allow me to be your first stop" Pfeifer finished taking out an orange flavored lollipop with the design of a Jack O' Lantern on the front of it, a few cream filled chocolates wrapped in aluminum, and a bag of sour skittles and placed them in Sherman's bag.

"Happy Halloween, and good luck" she said whispering cheerfully with a smile on her face.

"Thanks Pfeifer, see ya!" Sherman said running towards the elevator and Pfeifer waved her 'Bye' to her friend before returning to the desk.

Meanwhile, in the penthouse. Mr. Peabody was wrapping himself up in toilet paper to be a mummy dog, and he had just finished putting it all on too.

"Not too shabby, Peabody. Quite the dapper mummy you make" Peabody said doing poses in front of the mirror.

"What are you doing?" asked a voice from behind him. Peabody turned around to see Sherman holding his mask and watching his dad with a confused face. This made the beagle jump in surprise and blush embarrassed.

"Oh, nothing Sherman. Just trying on my costume is all" Peabody said, Sherman responded with a small laugh that wasn't subtle to the canine's ears.

"And being a goofball in front of the mirror when you're doing it?" the redhead asked.

"Don't judge me Sherman, you know Halloween is one of my most favorite times of the year. The one night dedicated to tricks, treats, ghosts, goblins, and ghouls" Peabody said walking to the kitchen counter and helped himself to some sour neon gummy worms. While Peabody was chewing the candy, he noticed the mask in his son's hands.

"Sherman, what are you holding?" asked Peabody. Sherman then handed his dad the mask and he looked at it.

"I got a costume at the last minute after school. Penny and Hayden helped me pick it out" said Sherman as he watched his father observe the details of the mask itself.

"I must say you found something pretty impressive Sherman. Good pick" Peabody said handing Sherman back the mask.

"Thanks, I knew you'd like it. Pfeifer did too" said Sherman.

"You're welcome. Now go get ready, your friends are gonna meet up with you to go trick or treating at six. Go take a shower and find something warm to wear with that mask" Peabody instructed. Sherman nodded and went to his room to drop off his school bag and the mask on his bed.

"Tonight, terror's gonna stalk the city's streets" Sherman said looking down at the mask that lied down on his bed before going to the bathroom to take his shower.

Little did Sherman know, the mask turned over onto it's side by itself and it's eyebrows narrowed down and it began snarling by itself, like it was a living thing.

"Yesssssssss, Yesssssssss" the mask snarled and used a sinister emphasis on the 'S' of both Yeses.

"Sssssssoooooon, boy... you will be... mine" the mask whispered from it's empty plastic-toothed mouth before emitting an evil laugh you'd normally hear from a superhero movie villain. What the mask didn't know is that his words caught the attention of a certain white furred beagle.

"Sherman? Are you in there?" Peabody asked after a small and gentle knock. The mask then stopped it evil whispering and then returned to it's original position and it's eyebrows went back up the way they used to be. The door then opened and Peabody turned the lights on to see if anyone was in the room, but nobody was inside.

"Hmm, odd. I swore I heard someone talking in here" Peabody said before turning the lights in the room off.

"Must be my imagination" he said closing the door behind him, leaving the mask alone once more, but this time it stayed the way Sherman had left it when he laid it down on the bed.

Meanwhile, Penny was now inside her mother's crafting room standing on top of a kitchen stool as her mother was finishing up her costume, sewing up the dress from behind. She looked like a beautiful Victorian-aged girl that captured the eye of all who passed by her.

"I think that's good. Feel tight enough?" asked Patty.

"It feels good, thank you mom. It's so beautiful" Penny said twirling around in the dress in front of the mirror.

"You're welcome, but don't thank me just yet. There's still one more piece left to add to it" said Patty before walking over to a big leather chest in the corner and opened it up to take out a beautiful red cloak, no sleeves, just holes for the arms to fit through, and a hood attached to it as well.

"The hood!" Patty cheered holding it up to show her daughter.

"Oh mom, it's perfect" Penny said as she now held her arms out and let her mom put it on her. Once her arms were through the holes, Patty tied the crimson laces at the top of the cloak and put the hood on over her head.

"Now it's complete" Patty said handing her daughter a hand-woven basked for her trick or treat candy.

"Thanks mom, I'd better go. Sherman and Hayden are probably gonna be waiting for me in front of the Central Park gate" Penny said but her mom stepped in front of her.

"Not yet, just one picture and then you can go" Patty said. Penny mentally groaned but just took a few steps back and let her mom take a picture of her in the cloak.

"Alright, go have fun sweetie" Patty said patting Penny on the shoulder and kissing her forehead before letting her out the door.

Meanwhile, Hayden was inside his house standing in the middle of the living room facing the TV while his mom put his costume on for him. The arms, body, and legs of his costume were pieces of cardboard that were painted dark brown and were given additional details to look like a real tree. His gloves however were bought from 'Target' and so was his mask. His eyes had black spots painted over him to give his costume a scarier tone with the mask on.

"Just a few more leaves and you should be good to go" said Ms. McClaine who was hot-gluing plastic leaves to her son's shoulders. Hayden was just staring at the TV, watching the original 1978 'Halloween' during the scene Laurie Strode was banging on the door, begging to be let in while Michael slowly walked over towards her, very large steak-knife in his hand.

"Alright" Hayden said as his eyes were still fixed on the TV.

"Come on, come on. Let her in, Tommy. Seriously, there's someone outside your house about to kill her" Hayden said, his heart beating with anticipation. A McClaine family tradition was during all of October scary movies was all they watched, and the original 'Halloween' was always played on the night of Halloween itself. Hayden had seen the movie at least a million times, but he still loved it and it sent shivers down his spine and made his skin tingle.

"There, all done" Ms. McClaine said. Hayden then turned to his mom and hugged her.

"Thanks mom, it's awesome" Hayden said turning to the mirror hanging from the living room wall and began making poses, making his mom laugh.

"Alright alright. Calm down, kiddo" Ms. McClaine said before handing him his mask and candy bag.

"Thanks, Sherman and I are gonna be the scariest monsters out there tonight" the brunette said before putting the mask on.

"Oh, I thought Sherman didn't have a costume" said Ms. McClaine.

"Penny and I went 'Last Minute Costume Shopping' with him and we got this really creepy goblin mask. He looks great in it, I think he made a pretty good pick" Hayden said walking to the door with his mother following him.

"Well take a picture for me so I can see you guys and how much fun you're having okay?" the older woman asked before kissing her son's mask's nose and then letting the boy go out the door.

"Bye mom! I'll be sure to take some pictures!" and with that, he was on his way.

 **A/N: So, now we got to see Sherman's friends get their costumes on and we discovered that the mask is a living thing that can move on it's own. Peabody almost discovered it, but it acted quick and went back to being a mask just before he could see anything. More to come in the next update. Please review, thanks!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Where we last left off, Penny and Hayden have gotten into their costumes and Sherman showed off his awesome new mask to his dad, but little does he know that the mask is a living thing and wants Sherman all to itself for some reason. This is where we left off. Enjoy!**

Sherman was now wearing a black long-sleeved shirt with black jeans with his white converse still on his feet. The redhead gazed at himself in the mirror and saw that his costume was almost complete.

"Awesome, now for the finishing touches" Sherman said running to his room and picked the mask up off the bed and put it back on his face the second time. Once it was on, Sherman tucked the bottom-half of the mask under his shirt and then looked in his mirror that was on the other side of his closet door.

"Yes. It looks even better with these awesome clothes on" said Sherman as he felt the inside of the mask touch his skin.

"Time to take this baby for a test run" Sherman said as he tip toed out of his room and hid behind the living room sofa silently chuckling to himself waiting for his dad to get back from answering his door for giving out candy to any passerby trick or treaters.

"Happy Halloween! Be safe!" Peabody called out to the trick or treaters he just handed out candy to and then placed the bowl back on the table and sat down on the couch. Sherman then stood up slightly, assuming a crouching position and spoke in a deep voice.

"Don't scream!" he said, the white furred beagle turned behind him and screamed like a little girl the minute he saw the mask and fell off the couch, the bowl of candy fell down and spilled on the hardwood floor too because when Peabody fell, his hip hit the coffee table too.

"Gotcha dad!" Sherman said now fully standing up and laughing underneath the mask.

"Normally you'd get in serious trouble for doing something like that, but I'm gonna let it slide since it's Halloween. Everyone's entitled to at least one good scare I suppose" Peabody said now picking up the candy that was spilled on the floor and placed it back in the bowl.

"Lighten up, Mr. Peabody" Sherman said shrugging his shoulders and giving a slight chuckle. Peabody then looked at the clock to see it was now almost 6:00.

"Oh, your friends should be waiting for you right now" said the beagle pulling off an empty white pillowcase off the counter and handed it to his son.

"Thanks dad, I'll be back soon" Sherman said hugging his dad and then went down the elevator.

Meanwhile, Penny was walking down the street and was only a few blocks away from the Peabody Industries building. Just as she was about to make her way to the crosswalk something jumped out at her making a roaring sound, making her jump in place and flinch slightly. It was Hayden in his Dryad costume.

"Gotcha good, didn't I?" Hayden asked after taking his mask off and revealing his face to Penny.

"Barely" Penny said shaking her head smiling.

"Yeah you did, I saw you jump when I popped out in front of you" Hayden said, trying to get Penny to admit he scared her.

"Okay, I didn't expect a tree to come out and scare me" said Penny as she began walking with Hayden down the crosswalk again.

"I'm not a tree, I'm a Dryad. It's not like in 'Evil Dead' where the trees just come alive and attack people and possess them" Hayden said as they walked.

Sherman had just left the front doors of the building and saw his friends about to cross the street. He smiled inside the mask and got an idea. He hid in the bushes by the stairway that lead to the front door and waited for his friends to cross the street to get to the other side. When they came into his view, he started making raspy breathing noises that were loud enough to be heard by both his friends.

"Wait, did you hear that?" Penny asked pointing to the bushes.

"Sounds like a Raccoon having an athsma attack" Hayden said trying to peak into the bushes. When he got close enough Sherman jumped out the bushes growling like a lion and caused both Penny and Hayden to jump back and fall down onto the concrete. Sherman laughed as he took the mask off.

"Oh man you guys were so scared you two were shaking in your shoes!" Sherman said laughing and pointing at Hayden who was being helped up off the floor by Sherman.

"Okay, you got us" Penny said.

"You did better than me when I tried to scare Penny" Hayden commented dusting his costume off.

"I had a little help" Sherman said holding the mask up to show his friends.

In the bushes on the other side, the old man from the shop was spying on the three kids and saw that Sherman was holding the mask.

"Oh no, that's the second time he's put it on" he said worriedly and started shaking.

"If he puts it on one more time, trouble is what awaits that poor child" the old man said before running away from the bushes and across the street.

"So, what do you wanna do?" asked Penny.

"I was thinking maybe we could do some trick or treating and then we can go to that Haunted House attraction that the Dawson family is holding" Sherman suggested.

"Sounds like a good idea. I haven't been to a haunted house since last year's 'Halloween Horror Nights'" Hayden said putting his mask back on.

"Cool costume Hayden, glad that Dryad costume really came together" Sherman said.

"I'm glad it did too. But your mask is really the best out of all the other costumes because you're doing so much with very little" Hayden replied to the comment Sherman made about his costume.

"Thanks, a little too sophisticated way to put it but thanks" Sherman said looking down at the mask while still talking to Hayden.

"So what are we waiting for? A blood moon? Werewolves howling? We got trick or treating to do!" Penny said smiling.

"Way ahead of you, let's do this" Hayden said leading the way down the street.

"I hope I don't get any rocks like I did with old man Grayson last year" Sherman said walking with Penny.

"What are you gonna do if you do get some? Throw them at his windows or something?" Penny asked.

"No! My dad would ground me for a month until Christmas. I'll just put them in our rock garden" Sherman said.

"Okay that does sound a whole lot better than throwing them at the window" Penny said.

"Alright, let's go get some candy and hopefully no rocks" Sherman said running towards Hayden with Penny following him.

The mask that was still in Sherman's hand was now thinking to itself.

"Yessssss! That was the second time you put me on, boy. The third time, you will be mine at long last. And I will finally have a body to roam this planet! Then raise an army of my brothers and sisters to roam the streets you call home. Hahahahahahahahahaha!" the mask thought to itself, it's evil plan was almost complete, all it needed was Sherman to put it on one last time.

 **A/N: Chapter 3 is done! The mask's plan is slowly making it's way into action, and the old man from the shop is trying to stop it. Today is the literal birthday for TexasBornMind76. So happy birthday and hope you enjoyed this chapter. More to come in the next update. Please review, thanks!**


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